Trick Out The Truth

It's a sin to tell a lie until we trick out the truth That depends on what you do and don't believe What you have hidden up your sleeve Younger than your shadow and as sweet as your tooth What have you forbidden from my view? What have you kept from me? What have I held from you? What will they say when they haul you away? Will anyone miss you, or kiss you, to say "Goodbye" (Goodbye) With a tear or a coin for your eye When they finally trick out the truth There are witches in the air Jack o'lanterns on the stairs And a wig to turn your hair electric blue Ghouls are sighted, children frighted Superheroes and villains Wondrous women by the millions Who fade to the parade And join the masquerade Right outside your door a werewolf and his claw Painted faces with a penny chew and Kensington gore Mussolini and his mistress in defeat And a witness with a cutlass arrange a winding sheet Singing "Leaning On A Lampost On The Corner Of The Street" The Marxists cheer a working girl Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Karl She's tattooed from her head to toe She's inky like a girl I know A contagion of invidia Just like the famous Lydia Just like Helen, late of Troy The Myna Bird, the Myrna Loy Bud and Lou were wrestling in the parlour Playing cards with Gustav Mahler We were calling every hand and every hold To a silent movie pianist Accompanying the action From our description and distraction Playing vamps and trills and rambles, sound effects and rags and rumbles Without even breaking stride Just as the bloody vampire nips his bride We were so scared that we knelt down to pray With a bishop by Bacon Who caused some dismay Who summons up tormented souls doused with feathers and molasses And the ashes of unholy crosses Somebody has to die before we trick out the truth I'll be coming back and I will turn the screw Longer than the shadow of some pulp fiction sleuth Standing in a costume of your choice Lady Godiva on a horse And Godzilla, of course For should we part at the end of the day When angels attend you to whisk you away We are falling down deep Like children into sleep And the candy has been counted And the bonfire will be haunted By orphans who are heard but never seen Each and every Halloween What will they say when they haul you away? Will anyone miss you, or kiss you, to say "Goodbye" (Goodbye) With a tear or a coin for your eye When they finally trick out the truth When they finally trick out the truth